Lebanese police free 75 girls from sex traffickers

BEIRUT, March 31 (Reuters) - Lebanese security forces have
broken up a human trafficking network and freed 75 girls, mostly
Syrians, they said were beaten and forced into prostitution.

A statement by the internal security forces, published on
the National News Agency, said they arrested 10 men and eight
women who had been guarding the girls during raids earlier this
week on nightclubs and apartments in Jounieh, north of Beirut.

It said the girls had been beaten and tortured and forced
into prostitution by various means including threats to publish
pictures of them naked.

Two members of the group, which the security forces
described as the most dangerous human trafficking network in the
country, were still on the run, the statement said.

The five-year conflict in Syria has driven more than a
million refugees into neighbouring Lebanon. Many are
impoverished and vulnerable.

A security source said some of the girls were believed to
have been lured from refugee settlements or sold to the group by
other Syrians.
(Reporting by Dominic Evans; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)